Friday, 03 October 2008

ReMonking the Church after Christendom

Paul writes – I came across this interesting list of transitions recently:

The emerging culture of post-Christendom is characterised by seven transitions:

·From the centre to margins: in Christendom the Christian story and the churches were central, but in post-Christendom these are marginal.

·From majority to minority: in Christendom Christians comprised the (often overwhelming) majority, but in post-Christendom we are a minority.

·From settlers to sojourners: in Christendom Christians felt at home in a culture shaped by their story, but in post-Christendom we are aliens, exiles and pilgrims in a culture where we no longer feel at home.

·From privilege to plurality: in Christendom Christians enjoyed many privileges, but in post-Christendom we are one community among many in a plural society.

·From control to witness: in Christendom churches could exert control over society, but in post-Christendom we exercise influence only through witnessing to our story and its implications.

·From maintenance to mission: in Christendom the emphasis was on maintaining a supposedly Christian status quo, but in post-Christendom it is on mission within a contested environment.

·From institution to movement: in Christendom churches operated mainly in institutional mode, but in post-Christendom we must become again a Christian movement.

This is a context in which as Christians we will need to dig deep and find resources to be followers of Jesus in a culture that offers little support and plenty of disincentives. The new monasticism movement is a search for such resources.

Form this little paper. You may also find this summary of a May 08 conference on New Monasticism. Finally, the latest copy of On the Road (Sept. 08), the journal of the Anabaptist Association of Australia and New Zealand Inc. features as its theme so-called “New Monasticism”.Attached below. At some point it will also be up on the Association’s website, here. Note too their conference on the theme of new monasticism early next year. Might be worth a trip to Melbourne... for some of you.